Trump endorses Ted Budd for US Senate in NC | Eastern NC Now

Donald Trump spoke to an enthusiastic crowd in Greenville, N.C. Saturday night at the Republican state convention.  He itemized all of the disasters brought by Joe Biden and clearly was campaigning for 2024.  But the big news came when he called his daughter-in-law, Lara Trump to the podium.  She then announced that she was not going to run for anything in 2022 because of the two young children she has.  Trump then endorsed Ted Budd for the Senate seat being vacated by Richard Burr, commenting that “we don’t need a lot of conservatives running.”  There was no reference to Pat McCrory.

You can watch the entire event below:

Click here for a more detailed report.

Commentary

Some observers have suggested that Lara Trump's decision not to run in 2022, but leave the option open of running against Thom Tillis, is the big story here.  Assuming Tillis would run for another term in 2026, not only might Lara Trump make a contest of it, especially if Donald Trump wins the presidency in 2024, but the threat of such might keep Tillis in line more with Trump's positions until then.  Tillis won his second term in 2020 with less than a majority vote.  Tillis received 48.7% of the vote to Cunningham's 46.9%.